When was the dagger vs the pugio used

[mcbishop]

So…back to the original question, regardless of what it’s called, were both blades, strait tang and the tripple, used and carried the same, but just carried by different legionaries, if not, when was one used over the other?

Taking note at the top picture, were both blades types carried and used the same. if not, how were their function or purpose different?

I think the simple answer there has to be 'we don't know' and, come to think of it, it is difficult to see how we could know; the archaeological record is just too fickle and imprecise to allow such conclusions. Examples of both types come from legionary bases, so might be legionary (but of course all legionary bases contained auxiliaries too, so that proves nothing...). All we can do is observe that there were differences, speculate about why they might be, and accept the limitations of our evidence.

Come to think of it, you could ask the same question of the later larger daggers - were they used in the same way as their earlier counterparts? We just don't know.

What do we know about the daggers.

Sadly, much the same as what we know about brontosauruses ;-) ...and we're even supposed to call those Apatosaurs these days.

Mike Bishop